Postcards developed out of the complex tradition of nineteenth-century printed calling cards, beginning with the advent of the in France. In the 1850s, Parisian photographer Andre Adolphe Eugene Disderi invented a photographic process involving egg white, albumen, and silver nitrate to create inexpensive portraits on paper cards. These photographic were 2 1/2 by 4 inches and became a popular, collectable form of "visiting cards" world-wide. Photographers would reprint portraits of famous individuals they had taken at their studios or during travel and sell them as collectable cards. Public figures such as European royalty, military generals, doctors, and businessmen would pose for portraits that were used as trading cards, business cards, and advertisements. During the American Civil War such cards were taxed, with revenue stamps affixed to the back.

Postcards as we know them now first began in 1861 as cards mailed by private post, invented by American John P. Charlton of Philadelphia with the patent later transferred to Philadelphian H. L. Lipman. Prussian postman Heinrich von Stephan advocated government-issued postcards in 1865. In 1869 the first government-created postal cards were printed in Hungary and the first cards for private post were printed in Austria. In the 1870s picture postcards grew in popularity throughout the United States, Britain, Europe, and Japan. China created regulations for postcards in 1896 and began printing them in 1898.

In 1873 the United States Government began to issue the only postal cards legal in the U.S., of plain card stock with no artistic design on the front. On 19 May 1898, Congress passed the Private Mailing Act, which allowed the mailing of privately printed post cards marked "Private Mailing Card." Only this designation, the address, and the stamp were permitted on the back; any message had to be written over the artwork which publishers printed on the front of the card. The Act also reduced the postage rate for the cards from the two cent letter rate to one cent. Beginning on 24 December 1901, relaxed regulations authorized private printers in the United States to drop "Private Mailing Card" in favor of "Post Card" or "Postcard."

During the "Undivided Back" period printers began to leave white space on the front of the card where the sender could write a message without spoiling the artwork (see VC 0004_3000). Cards were first permitted to have a "Divided Back," with text written on the left half of a dividing line and the address on the right half, beginning in England in 1902. France switched to a divided back in 1904, Germany in 1905, and the United States on 1 March 1907 (VC 0004_3025).

Around 1900 the first postcards made of "Real Photos" rather than artwork began to circulate, aided in by advances in amateur photography equipment by companies such as Kodak. Kodak also introduced postcard paper for photographic development and photography studios began to offer portraits printed as postcards (see VC 0004_2504). Many local town, countryside, and architectural images were captured during this period by local photographers, then printed and sold as postcards (see VC 0004_1708).

The loosening of government regulation, lowered costs, and advances in amateur photography all contributed to a postcard craze that lasted from 1900 to the First World War. Postcards were the preferred means to send a quick note, whether across town or across a continent. U.S. postal records for fiscal year 1907-1908 indicate over 677 million postcards mailed.

German printers' fine artwork and superior processes allowed Germany to dominate the market until the outbreak of war in 1914 (see VC 0004_3017). European printers opened offices in the United States and postcard artists moved to Germany. When war halted the flow of high-quality German cards, English and American producers attempted to fill market demand. Their processes, however, resulted in cards of inferior quality. From the War to 1930 cards were printed with a white border around the edge to bring down high printing costs by saving ink (see VC 0004_3038). Lower quality contributed to the demise of postcard mania.

Although new linen paper processes in the 1930s resulted in better quality, more brightly colored card art (see VC 0004_3037), the postcard industry continued to decline. After 1939, new Photochromes, color photo postcards, began to replace both linen and black and white photo postcards (see VC 0004_0200). By the end of World War II these "Chromes" had completely replaced other card forms. The widely available telephone replaced the postcard for sending short messages and postcards became largely confined to the realm of souvenirs (see VC 0004_0600). Though postcards continue to be produced, they would never regain the enormous popularity of the early twentieth century.